


Awaken Unto Me

by Jaybeesaur



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Sam is a minor character, Was intended to be a Halloween fic but it's not anymore I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-17 12:12:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2309246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaybeesaur/pseuds/Jaybeesaur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's so cold. Mid-Autumn nights mean stale air, no moisture. It's hard to breathe like this. Having another body pressed on your chest doesn't really help either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Awaken Unto Me

**Author's Note:**

> I had fully intended to make this fic Halloween themed, but it didn't really work out that way. I'm happy with it though.

It's so cold. Mid-Autumn nights mean stale air, no moisture. It's hard to breathe like this. Having another body pressed on your chest doesn't really help either.

Castiel was too afraid to sleep on his own after Dean forced him to watch "13 Ghosts", a movie that had almost become tradition to the brothers ever since Sam had accidentally came upon it one day as a child and both of the boys had been too afraid to move off the couch to change the channel. Sam had warned him that Castiel might not be able to handle the movie. They had been scaring him for days, using stupid pranks and telling him scary stories to get under his skin. 'Preparing him for Halloween' Dean had called it.

Sam had been right. Despite Castiel's pleas to continue, Dean had to end their movie night prematurely as he noticed that Castiel had been hiding underneath the blanket for at least two-thirds of the film.

Even after the movie was off, Castiel had been noticeably jumpy. Any noise and every shadow creeping along the walls had him flinching, his breath catching in his throat.

When the boys decided to settle down for the night, Castiel quietly suggested they should keep a light on in the adjacent bathroom, just, you know, in case anyone needed to go. Even though his request had been granted, he had snuggled up in his blanket so tightly on the couch you could make out each of his toes individually.

Dean rolled his eyes and clicked off his bedside lamp, tugging his blanket up over his shoulder. He dozed off gradually, trying to ignore the whimpers emanating from the hotel's couch.

Just as he reaches the edge of unconsciousness he's pulled back by the sound of squeaking springs.

Persistent squeaking and then silence. Another squeak. Another. It was starting to get annoying.

“Shh.” Dean tried hushing him.

Castiel quieted.

Dean began drifting off again.

 

_Squeak_

 

“Cas.” He grumbled.

“Yes, Dean?”

“Quit it.”

 

_Silence_

 

About fifteen seconds glide by without incident, just long enough to lull one into a false sense of security, when, sure enough;

 

_Skreeeeee._

 

It's hushed, but elongated and that makes it equally annoying. Before Dean can even voice a complaint, Cas breaks through the silent-again airwaves.

“Dean are you still up?” He asks quietly, not wanting to wake him if he had been, in fact, sleeping at this point.

“Cas, it's only been, like, a minute. Of course I'm still up.” Dean huffed out. It wasn't like he was exhausted or anything, but that didn't really make a difference. When it came down to it, he was trying to sleep and Cas wasn't letting him. So, excuse me, but that tone had some venom to it.

“Oh..... Sorry, Dean.” Cas had quieted down again but Dean wasn't going to let him off that easy. He could tell that there was more to this than Cas was letting on and, dammit, he was going to get to the bottom of it so Cas would quit bothering him out of what should've been a peaceful night's sleep.

“Cas, what do you want?” His voice was scratchy from (lack of) sleep but there was an underlying 'no-nonsense' tone to it.

“N-nothing, Dean. Again, I'm sorry.” He was trying to weasel himself out of it. Of course he was. But Dean was having none of it. Dean was going to get him to come clean one way or the other. He sat up and tried again.

“Cas, you had better tell me. Don't you dare try to brush me off like that, not after what we've been through together. You can ask me anything, Cas.” It came out harsh at first but about midway through he felt bad about it and softened his tone. He had been so annoyed about losing sleep that he had forgotten that Castiel was scared. Scared because Dean had made him watch that damn movie, and made him keep watching it, even after Cas had to hide his face in his blanket.

Yep. This was Dean's fault, alright. He needed to stop blaming Cas and start helping him. But he couldn't help Castiel unless he knew how and the only way to know that was to get Cas to tell him.

Cas sounded like he was going to say something, but maybe he rethought it or changed his mind. He started again but nothing was coming out. He sighed and shifted again on the couch, twisting around to look at Dean, locking eyes with him in the process.

“Spit it out, Cas. What's eating you?” He flinched when he heard Castiel's breath hitch. Okay, that was a bad choice of words, he could admit. He could only imagine Cas thinking a monster was going to reach out and grab his leg by the ankle, pulling him down into an abyss only to devour him whole. He shook the scene from his head and tried again.

“I mean, what's up, dude?” He relaxed his posture, hoping it would help Castiel relax as well using some of that 'sympathy emotion' crap he had learned from the internet forums about police interrogation tactics.

Surprisingly enough, it seemed to help a bit. Castiel tried to speak again.

“I just-” He paused for a moment; not long enough to prompt Dean to intervene.

“Dean, do you think... Is it... normal?”

Dean blinked. He certainly wasn't expecting the question to end there but Castiel was looking at him now, waiting for an answer.

“What do you mean? Is what normal?”

He seemed to get over whatever had been stopping him from asking earlier 'cause now he spat it out, quick and simple. Like it was nothing.

“Do you think it's normal to seek comfort in other humans when you're frightened?”

Hell, Dean should've seen this coming. No wonder Cas had such a hard time asking. Having been an angel for so long, never really knowing what fear felt like before now. And, shit, Dean had been scaring him senseless for about a week straight.

That's when the guilt hit him, and it hit him hard. An angel of the Lord, now human, having been through all he's been through (waging war against his brothers, stopping the apocalypse. Having his grace ripped straight from his vessel) and now being reduced to a whimpering mess that has to sleep with the lights on all because Dean Winchester is too hard headed to know when enough is enough.

He sighed. He felt so bad. He was used to Cas being the tough one. Cas, the Angel of the Lord. Cas, who gripped him tight, from the depths of Hell and raised him, saved him. Cas who once carved sigils into his own skin with a blade to protect them.

But now Cas was human. He was human and he was afraid and he was asking Dean if it was normal to want to seek comfort when you're scared.

He slumped his shoulders and resigned himself to his guilt. He knew he had no right to deny Castiel something as simple as this.

“Yeah, Cas. It's normal.” He didn't really know how to offer the comfort Castiel needed. Not how to offer it in words at least. Luckily for Dean, Castiel had always been quite straight-forward with his words.

“If it's normal, then, Dean, could I request comfort from another human?”

“Yeah, Cas. You can.” He knew what was coming next, and he was grateful that Castiel was going to be the one to say it out loud and not him.

“Dean?”

Dean let out a shuddering breath that he didn't know he had been holding in.

“Yeah?”

“Would you comfort me, Dean? Please? I'm still frightened.” He looked up at Dean as he asked, clearly hopeful that his request would be granted.

“Yeah, Cas. I'll comfort you.” He rubbed the back of his neck when Castiel didn't move. Maybe they had different ideas of comfort? Dean was pretty much a physical comfort kind of guy, maybe Cas needed words? Dean's not very good at words.

“Dean?” Cas pulled him from his thoughts.

“Uh, yeah, sorry. Cas, I gotta admit, I'm not really very good at this sorta thing.”

“Oh.” His head sagged at that. He sounded so defeated. Dean hated it.

“Hey, Cas?” He started, the idea still blossoming in his mind.

“Yes, Dean?” Cas sounded back automatically.

Dean sighed, for what felt like the millionth time that night. It was now or never, and Cas needed it to be now.

“Grab your pillow and get over here, man.”

And he did. He snatched that pillow and practically ran over to Dean, little feet slapping against the thin carpet as he hurried over.

Dean scooted over to one side of the bed and lifted the covers near Castiel, signaling for him to get in. He did that too, putting down his pillow where Dean had made room for it and attempting to get comfortable on his side of the bed. Dean decided to get comfortable as well. There was a sort-of-awkward-but-not-really glance shared between the two and Dean could tell that Cas needed a little more.

Dean shifted on his back and reached over to Castiel, pulling his shoulder towards his own body, draping Castiel's arm over his torso. As soon as Castiel figured out that it was okay for him to touch Dean he leaned into him, lying his head down on Dean's chest. Dean pulled the blanket up over the two of them and he heard Castiel sigh, getting settled on his chest. Once they had both stopped moving he heard Castiel whisper a soft “Goodnight, Dean.” and he could tell that Castiel deemed this 'comfort' acceptable to quell his fears.

“'Night, Cas.”

And they drifted off together, Cas no longer needing to toss and turn and subsequently keep Dean from sleep anymore.

 

* * *

 

 

Dean awoke that morning to the curtains being drawn. The invading light of early dawn was unforgiving at best and decidedly gave Dean's vision little time to adjust. He could hear Sam snickering and deduced that his brother knew exactly what he had done.

Dean grumbled and reached for the blanket on top of him, fully intending to pull it up over his eyes and go straight back to sleep.

Of course, he had no such luck. He tugged at the blanket but it wouldn't budge. And it was heavy. Really heavy. Suspiciously heavy.

Dean opened his eyes, squinting against the harsh rays of light he was met with. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes and letting them adjust to the sunlight flooding the room, he looked down to the blanket, still wondering why the damned thing wouldn't move.

The sight he was met with wasn't the one he was expecting. Not at all.

Dean certainly wasn't expecting to see a six-foot, hundred-and-sixty-pound man with dark-as-midnight hair to be huddled on top of his body, clutching his blanket to his chest like it was a lifeline.

And he certainly wasn't expecting to realize how perfect it felt.

With a smile on his face, he ran his fingers through Castiel's sleep-mussed hair.

 

Even though Cas was human now, he still looked like an angel in his sleep.


End file.
